Calanques National Park

This park, which was created on the 18th of April 2012, is France’s 10th national park and the first in Europe to include the land, the sea and urbanization. It stretches from Marseille to La Ciotat and features landscapes of lime rock (between Marseille and Cassis) and red conglomerate in La Ciotat. The park is internationally known for its sublime landscapes, its biodiversity and its rich heritage.

The park’s most striking fact is that despite its vast territory of wild land, it is situated just next to France’s second biggest city, Marseille. The cliffs called “Soubeyranes” that connect La Ciotat and Cassis together are a treasure in mineralogy. This magnificent landscape that counts as the highest maritime cliffs of Europe towers above the sea and offers marvelous viewpoints, for example from the scenic road “Route des Crêtes”. The “poudingue” conglomerate gives the stones its ocher coloring.